Disney’s official Avengers Doomsday MCU watchlist explained | Films | Entertainment

Catching up with Marvel these days can feel like homework, especially if you checked out of the MCU following Avengers Endgame in 2019. But now Disney+ has announced which 14 Marvel movies and the one TV show to watch before Avengers Doomsday. Check out the list below, why we think they want you to watch it before the new MCU epic and which film is surprisingly missing. Warning: potential spoilers based on rumours and theories ahead.

First up are X-Men (2000) and X-Men 2 (2003), which predate the Marvel Cinematic Universe and take place in Earth-10005. Reprising their roles from these films in Avengers Doomsday, which sees their universe clash with the MCU’s Earth-616, are Sir Ian McKellen’s Magneto, Sir Patrick Stewart’s Professor X, James Marsden’s Cyclops, Kelsey Grammer’s Beast, Alan Cummings Nightcrawler and Rebecca Romijn’s Mystique.

Next up is Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), which is probably included because of Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter’s 1940s love story that was interrupted by Captain America being frozen until modern day, before he went back in time to be with her in Avengers Endgame. He married Peggy, and from the first Avengers Doomsday teaser we saw, they have a baby. In the latest trailer, Dr Doom says they’re living “stolen lives”, suggesting the change in the timeline negatively affected Doom, who’s lost his wife and child.

The inclusion of The Avengers (2012) is more mysterious, but it may be so that we have the context of the timeline changes to the Battle of New York in Avengers: Endgame, which resulted in Loki’s variant being arrested by the TVA. Perhaps what else happened in that timeline without that Loki caused an incursion.

Avengers Infinity War (2018) and Avengers Endgame (2019) seem obvious given that Avengers Doomsday is a direct sequel to the latter and its consequences. Tony Stark famously said, “When you mess with time, it tends to mess back.”

The only TV show to feature is the two seasons of Loki, which follows the Loki variant from Endgame, who ends up imprisoned by the Time Variance Authority. This may be more important to watch than the 14 films if you’ve never seen it before.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) features because Shang-Chi is a member of the Avengers in Doomsday. Meanwhile, Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) dived into the multiverse concept with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parkers teaming up with Tom Holland’s. Rumour has it Maguire has a cameo role in Doomsday.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) and Captain America: Brave New World (2025) appear presumably because the main characters in both are part of the Avengers in Doomsday, like Shang-Chi. Next up is Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), who are X-Men characters, although only Deadpool is from Earth-10005. Wade Wilson found the Wolverine variant in a mystery universe, but both settled back in Earth-10005 at the end of the movie. Over the weekend at D23, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman confirmed both their characters feature in Avengers Doomsday.

Then there’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), which, like No Way Home, is a deep dive into the alternate reality concept. This film concluded with Doctor Strange developing a third eye and following Charlize Theron’s Clea through a portal to confront an incursion. Rumour has it that this pair, Scarlet Witch (who “dies” in this movie) and female Loki, are the masked witch henchmen of Doctor Doom in Doomsday.

Then there’s Thunderbolts* (2025), who become the New Avengers led by Florence Pugh’s Black Widow and are part of the Earth-616 team in Doomsday. And finally, there’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025), which takes place on Earth-828, where Robert Downey Jr’s Victor von Doom is also from. There’s a hint at this during a United Nations meeting when the chair for Latveria (Doom’s country) is absent. As for the surprise omission, that would be The Marvels (2022), because the film concludes with Monica Rambeau entering another universe, which we learn is Earth-10005, as Grammer’s Beast nurses her back to health. But, then again, it is just an end credits scene in a movie that’s otherwise nothing to do with the multiverse.

All these Marvel movies and Loki are streaming on Disney+ and Avengers Doomsday hits cinemas on December 18, 2026.